Butte in Silver Bow County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
Pleasant Alley
Butte National Historic Landmark District
— "Venus Alley" —
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 12, 2021
1. Pleasant Alley Marker
Inscription.
Pleasant Alley. Butte National Historic Landmark District. Brick pavement is the only enduring feature of this once-promiscuous alley of national ill repute. By the 1890s, Pleasant Alley and other smaller alleys were the dingy backyards where the less favored women of Butte’s sprawling red light district eked out a living. In halfhearted response to reform-conscious citizens, officials decreed in 1903 that prostitutes and their one-room “cribs” fronting Galena and Mercury streets were too visible. The city ordered these “public” women to don high-necked blouses, lengthen their skirts and lower their blinds in an attempt to curtail open solicitation. Instead they took to alleys like this one, pushing their less fortunate sisters into the district’s even darker recesses. In many cases, windows and doors were simply cut into the backs of the existing cribs. Prohibition and World War I closed the alleys in 1917. In the 1930s, illicit business activity resumed on a smaller scale along this street, renamed “Venus Alley,” until all cribs were closed by federal law in 1943.
Brick pavement is the only enduring feature of this once-promiscuous alley of national ill repute. By the 1890s, Pleasant Alley and other smaller alleys were the dingy backyards where the less favored women of Butte’s sprawling red light district eked out a living. In halfhearted response to reform-conscious citizens, officials decreed in 1903 that prostitutes and their one-room “cribs” fronting Galena and Mercury streets were too visible. The city ordered these “public” women to don high-necked blouses, lengthen their skirts and lower their blinds in an attempt to curtail open solicitation. Instead they took to alleys like this one, pushing their less fortunate sisters into the district’s even darker recesses. In many cases, windows and doors were simply cut into the backs of the existing cribs. Prohibition and World War I closed the alleys in 1917. In the 1930s, illicit business activity resumed on a smaller scale along this street, renamed “Venus Alley,” until all cribs were closed by federal law in 1943.
46° 0.724′ N, 112° 32.059′ W. Marker is in Butte, Montana, in Silver Bow County. Marker is on East Galena Street near South Wyoming Street, on the left when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 36 East Galena Street, Butte MT 59701, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 5, 2021. It was originally submitted on November 5, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 130 times since then and 10 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on November 5, 2021, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
